Final Reflection (Blog Post 15)

Final Project #16 (Blog Meister)

Final Report on PLN

I am going to update my PLN for the final time. I have been using symbaloo extensively. I never thought that I would actually admit that I love it, but I do. It really is a great tool to use for anyone. I have everything from my social accounts such as twitter and facebook to my educational accounts. I have updated my blogger on there and I have all of my school work as well from my history courses. I am also using this as my home page because I can go anywhere on the internet that I want to just from my homepage which makes cuts my surfing time down immensely. I highly recommend this great site to anyone.

Blog Post 14

In the video Top Ten Tips for Using Technology, we as future educators can learn a lot of different things. Joe Picardo developed this video, and his websites to help fellow educators learn how to use technology in their curriculum. On his website he credits many of the different websites that Dr. Strange has made us use as significant tools to help improve education through the use of technology such as delicious and audacity. In the video he speaks of how we can use the internet as an effective tool. We can use skype for teleconfroncing, and podcasts for the benefit of your students. He also mentions that teenagers are really into music and probably already have itunes accounts so use more music in your videos. The last thing he talks about is use the gadgets they have to your advantage such as cell phones, ipods, and kindles.




I thought this was a great idea by Joe Picardo. I never would've thought to use their cell phones as an effective learning tool. Another thing that I liked is that he says to get personal with them and find out what kind of music they like and use that to your advantage as an educator. The teleconfroncing was a great idea because I think skype is a great tool. I use it a lot just as a study group tool. Through using skype I never have to leave the comfort of my home, but I can still study with all my classmates.

C4T #4

For this C4T I was assigned to Ira David Socol. I found all of his blogs so interesting that I actually read more than required. The one that I decided to comment on was him talking about the UC Davis incidents in California. He talks about the "Tea Party" and the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, but the main thing he talks about is that as educators what are we teaching our students? He talks about how officer Pike abused his authority and maced the students at UC Davis and how a teacher there at the College of Education, Cynthia Carter Ching talks about how they have failed the students by not putting the right people in charge. He talks about how she says that its not only the students college, but the teachers as well and that they, as educators, should've been there to help out the students. I thought this was a very interesting blog and I would highly recommend checking it out. I put the link in case your interested.

c4k november

In my c4K I had a student named Robert T and he described how he made ice cream comets in his classroom with his fellow students. It was a messy situation as he described, but ended up being completely delicious! I even went out and tried it for myself because it sounded so good. His science class had been going over comets so they made ice cream ones. They were made out of ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles, but not in a bowl, in your hand!

Blog Post 13 (The E-Media Fast)

For this blog assignment I decided to do the e-media fast.

Thursday, November 17, 2011
I decided I would try this sustaining from all types of media for 24 hours. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I thought that I was not that dependent on technology, but I was so wrong. I started off the day by waking up to go to school, so I grabbed everything I needed. I brought along my cell phone, you know, for emergencies. So, I got to school, and everything was going good, I made it through my first two classes successfully, but during lunch, I slipped up and checked my facebook. Back to the drawing board!

Friday, November 18, 2011
Yesterday really woke me up, so I started my day by sleeping in because I didn't have work or school. This got me feeling good, because I have a book I have to read for an essay I have to write, so I started on that. Well, 6:00 PM rolls around and I have been doing really well by not using technology, so I decide to go to a local high school playoff game since I am a coach myself. I made it through the whole game until I realized I was checking my phone for other schools scores. Fail. Back to the drawing board.

Saturday, November 19, 2011
I decided that even though I had failed the previous 2 days, that the third time was a charm, but little did I realize that it was Saturday. EPIC FAIL. College football, and I didn't even stand a chance.

Reflection: I did not see this being too hard that I could not do this assignment. The reasoning is that I do not really see myself as a person that uses technology all that much, but little do I know that I DEPEND on it! As far as my future students go, I think they will be completely reliant on technology. With that being said, I have to use that to my advantage and use what I have learned in this class to put them to work. By using blogs, and symbaloo they can be on the internet and progressing their ideas. They can go to our class blog and get assignments, and even turn them in online to cut down on the use of paper!

Special Assignment 1

In my assignment I was told to make a post about why we use metaphors. Well, we use metaphors for many different reasons. One reason we use it is in history or literature to maybe just get the reader to think about what the writer is saying and to apply it. Another example that I thought of is using metaphors in music.

Musicians rely on metaphors in today's lyrics, but nothing like they did years ago. Artist had to be very careful about what they were saying in their songs, or they might not be put on the radio, and since they were so popular they had to do what was necessary. The Beatles used metaphors plenty, and also Led Zeppelin. Here is a link to some metaphoric songs!

Skype Interview

I did my interview with Kristal Sisson. She is a teacher at East Central High School in Hurley, Mississippi. I went over how long she has been a teacher, and how she uses technology in her classroom. Special thanks to Mrs. Sisson for taking the time out of her busy day to do this interview!

Blog Post 12

For our blog post 12 we were assigned to create our own blog assignment. I got to thinking and I couldn't help but to think of something that deals with my major. The majority of the videos that I have seen seems like its geared around the elementary education and not secondary education majors like myself. I know that they are beneficial for me too, but I was just saying.

My post would be that every student should have to explain why they wanted to become a teacher, and why it is important to have teachers.

I believe that it is important that we have teachers because they are what shape our people. What I mean by this is that just about every single person out there has a teacher that has inspired them or something to that nature. Without teachers much of the society would be illiterate degenerates. I have had several influential teachers in my life and that is why I decided I wanted to become a teacher. They have done so much for me and I want to make the same kind of impact in students life just like they made so much of an impact in my life!

Progress on Final Project 16

Team Awesome has decided to do our project on the uses of Symbaloo . We are going to talk about that and show how to use it effectively. I look forward to showing you what we know about this very effective tool!

Mrs. Yollis' Class Blog

In Mrs. Yollis' Blog she shows exactly how effective a blog can be. There is literally anything that you need to know about blogging, how to blog, how to do an html code, how to comment, and she even puts links up so you can meet the students! I like that she keeps her students involved in the stories, and keeping their profiles up to date. She is also beating our class blog by some 20,000 visitors so I think we need to get our visits up so we can compete!

Blog Post 11

The first assignment was to watch Little Kids... Big World. This was about Ms. Kassidy's first grade class that is using all kinds of technology in the classroom. They use their Nintendo DS to be able to do learning techniques. They also use skype, make their own blogs, make videos, and they are only in the first grade!! They also talk about how to write a blog as well as how to comment on blogs without hurting anybody's feelings.
The one thing that I can say about this is WOW. I mean its amazing that these children already know so much about technology and they are only 5 and 6 years old. I think that by doing this at such a young age that it will revolutionize learning, and I think that is the ultimate goal when it is all said and done.
The next assignment was Ms. Cassidy's Skype Interview. I thought it was very interesting to watch her being interviewed. She really understands the use of technology in the classroom and really embraces it. She really understands that technology has become part of the everyday life of students and really embraces it. I like how she wasn't afraid to "take the leap" into technology and use it in her classroom. I also completely agree with her when she says that teachers need to be technologically literate and not just know the basic functions of a computer. The reasoning is because computers can do so much more for a teacher in a classroom. One quote that really stuck out to me is when she was talking about not knowing how to use a computer to its full capability, "you are handicapping your students and yourself." I really think that speaks volumes because it is so true. We as educators must stay up to date with technology. One thing that I like that she uses to help her students with their blog is something she said was Class Blogmeister. This video shows how to use this great tool.

C4K October

I commented on a post about a little girl talking about her favorite book on their website Kids with a view. Her favorite book was Charlotte's Web, and I talked about how I loved that book as a kid and that she did a great job of explaining.
My next comment was from Ms. Gregory's class and I had to comment on two different students. One that was assigned and one by a random checker that assigned them to me. Each one I told them where I was from, what I enjoyed, and what I was going to school for.
My last comment was from Mr. Gwaltney's class. I commented on a post by luey. He talks about the reformation of the English church and John Calvin. I found it really interesting especially because I am a history major and to see students writing such quality posts makes it great.

Blog Post 10

Do You Teach or Do You Educate?
I think this video is very eye opening, and if you are wanting to be a teacher you should definitely watch this. The main thing it does in my eyes is that it shows the differences of being a teacher and being an educator. It shows that if you are going into the field of education that you need to be an educator and not just go through the motions because you are so much to these student. I chose to go into the education field to make a difference in the younger generations life and to hopefully guide them in the right direction because after all, they are the future of our great country.
When we go into the education field we are so much more than just teachers as the video suggests. The students look at us not only as teachers, but also as advisors and role models. We all need to make sure we are educators to provide our students with real world scenarios.


The second part is Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home. This is where Mr. Spencer uses code for technology in saying that they are pencils. In our past it is said that if you allowed students to bring their pencils home then they would score lower on their standardized tests because they would not be able to focus on the use of the pencil. In many ways a person could make the same accusation about technology. Yes, it is a very useful tool that is used for learning, but if the student uses it for other things instead of learning then it could cause great dismay.

I feel like he wants the students to be able to have pencils to use as an education tool, and trust that they will do the right thing. The main issue I had is that it just reminds us how much society focuses on standardized test scores when half the time it doesn't even show what a student can really do. In everyday life how many times are there test? Hardly ever. So, I think that this was a great way to show the solution to a problem instead of looking for something wrong with it.

C4T # 3

I was assigned to Amanda Ooten and her blog is Science Teaching for the Future. The first thing that I commented on was what she explained as Catch-22 of the flip. The first part of this is that she talks about a girl "suzie" who does all her work, studies, stays up to date with all of her assignments but is struggling trying to figure out how to study in the AP class. She explains how she talks to her mom and finds out that she spends too much time trying to catch all of the other students up who don't do their work, and so she tells the other students that its on them to keep up with the material. She goes on to compare it to college which I think is great because she says college is not spoon fed, so she doesn't need to do that to her students. I like how she tells that we as educators its not our job to do it for them, but to give them the tools they need to succeed.
The next post was on The Nuts and Bolts of Flipping. This is how she explains to flip your classroom as a teacher. She tells us not to be afraid of a change because ultimately it should help the students. It has a online learning experience and it includes many videos, but it isn't just about all the videos.The main thing that this flip is aiming to accomplish is the end goal is to be able to get more one on one time with your students, and to be able to assess them as well. I would highly recommend looking at her page because she does such a great job explaining how to flip your classroom as well as giving such great advice on becoming an educator.

Blog Post 9

In Mr. McClung's What I Learned This Year (2010-11) he explains what happens after his third year of teaching and how there were many changes such as; first time to spend more than one year at the same school, first time head coach, first experience with cross country, and being a computer applications teacher. One thing he mentions that meant a lot to me is to know who your boss is. What he explains here is that it is important to know who is above you, but it is more important to service our children. One quote that stuck out to me was "Our decision making process should always be student centered and not centered around pleasing adults."
Another thing he mentions is that he is an optimistic about new ideas and if we are the same way we don't need to expect other people to be that way. I think that relates to this class, and specifically to me. I did not want to try new things and this class has opened up my eyes to new ideas such as learning and teaching strategies. The next thing he mentions is to not be afraid to be an outsider. Basically, he tells us not to be afraid to be set apart from the rest of the staff. I know I have been giving quotes but this one really explains how I feel as a future educator, "I would much rather be the person that is an outsider because of my focus on my students than someone that seeks approval from other teachers in my building."
The next thing he talked about is to 'Not touch the keyboard'. What this means is don't take over a project for a student. Instead give them the tools needed to succeed and set them up for success. The last thing is to 'Not to get to comfortable' and what this means is to not get too settled in your ways and coast on what your doing as a teacher.
In What I Learned This Year (2008-09) Mr. McClung talks about what happened after his first year of teaching. The first important lesson that he talks about is 'learning to read the crowd.' What he means is that instead of trying to impress the other teachers with the content of the lesson, we as teachers should be "reading the crowd" (students) to see if they actually understand what you are presenting. The next important thing he explains is to remember that no lesson is ever perfect and that we should be flexible and open-minded to change.
The next important thing he talks about is to communicate. Not only with your fellow teachers, but with your students as well. Another thing is to never put your expectations too high for your students. I can agree with this because if you do that, then more than likely you are just setting them up to fail. The next thing he says is to not be afraid of technology, and I believe that is what the hardest part for me will be. Honestly, I am starting to enjoy it. The last thing he talks about I think goes hand-in-hand and that is to listen to your students, and never stop learning. By listening to our student it helps us to learn and it also helps us think of more effective ways of teaching. Also, just because when we become teachers that does not mean we know everything, so we need to be open minded and willing to learn.

Project 13

Project 11

Blog Post 8

http://english.rutgers.edu/faculty/facultyprofiles/293-rmiller.html

In This is how we dream part 1 In part one Dr. Miller explains that he grew up in a home that was filled with books and that he wanted to pursue a career that involved working with books. He says that times are changing and publishing is as well, and that more and more things are being offered online so we need to adapt. Dr. Miller also mentions how multimedia will be the basis of learning and how he did a report on the Virginia Tech shootings without stepping foot into a library. We need to learn to do all of these new things because soon all of that will be a thing of the past.

In This is how we dream part 2 Dr. Miller talks about how we are entering into a new type of environment where information changes right before our eyes. He says we as educators, must be in the business of sharing ideas freely. He talks about how using the internet we can more quickly put our ideas into society. He talks about how there is no way to teach what he is talking about, and that it needs to be invented. He talks about how the internet is a way for the books to live on forever.

I think that Dr. Miller makes very valid points in teaching about multimedia. I think its important that we know how to use it to be effective teachers. He talks about how we can let books live on forever through the use of the internet and I could not agree more with that. I do not think that I am ready to use all the multimedia in my classroom, but I hope that through the help of this class I will be ready to use it and be able to effectively to make a difference with my students.

In Carly Pugh's Blog Post 12 she talks about how she thought it was important to create her own teaching style. I think that its important for all of us future educators that we find our own way to be effective teachers. She talks about a playlist that she made for inspiration in her teaching, and I thought that was a genius idea because anytime you start to doubt yourself as a teacher you can always look there for inspiration.

The Chipper Series is about a student who is extremely lazy and does not want to work hard for anything, and is looking for the "quick fix" to succeed in life. Once coming up short in this "quick fix" the student decides that she must go back to school and work hard to earn a spot in life. It is very important that we as educators work hard to be just that, educators. We are going to be the ones educating the future leaders of our great country, so we need to take pride in that and work hard.

EDM 310 for dummies talks about how at first people could easily get frustrated with edm 310 because it is a shock at first if your not used to all of the technology. Edm is a very useful tool though because it does help you get started as a teacher because it requires you to follow educators and to learn from them. I think edm is great already because any help you need at any time day or night is available and that is great about this class.

I could not agree more with the video Learn to Change, Change to Learn because it speaks what we have to do as teachers. One of the teachers mentioned that if we want the students to be connected globally, then she as an educator must first familiarize the teachers with how to do that. I think this video is great because it talks about change, and change in the classroom. The video sums up exactly what it is about, and that we have to learn to change so we can learn. By doing this we can learn more effectively.

It does criticize schooling we know today and especially standardized testing. I do not believe that standardized testing does all that much, because there is so many things that it does not measure like the will to succeed.

Blog Post 7

Our blog post assignment this week was on Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. To begin with I would like to say that Randy Pausch was a completely amazing speaker. He was very humorous that got the most out of life and really enjoyed what he did for a living and wanted to make sure that everyone else got enjoyment out of learning just as he did. What I thought was interesting about him was the fact that at the beginning of the video he comes out and says that he has cancer and he is completely upbeat about it which makes me look up to him. I really hate that he is not around to give such amazing advice. RIP Randy.

One of the things that he talks about in the video is "brick walls". What he says about brick walls is that they are put there for a reason; they let us know how badly we want things. I think that is key because it lets us know, "this is what it's going to take to accomplish your goal. Are you willing to do what it takes?" By having dreams we are automatically going to have brick walls, and the only thing that matters is how we react to these brick walls. This relates to not only myself, but also my students. I should want them to dream and help them as much as I possibly can to help them accomplish their dreams. Another thing he says about this is even if you aren't able to accomplish a dream is "experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted which I think is very important.

The next important claim he makes is that our students can surprise us. He tells us that if we wait long enough people will surprise and impress you. The reason he says this is because he knows nobody really wants to let you down. In the video he talks about a project he made his students do and they didn't live up to what he thought they should do, so what he tells us to do is to not set certain bars for expectations. Another thing he speaks of is giving our students a "head fake" which means give your students the idea that you want one thing, but they end up impressing you in the end because they just want to be successful in your eyes.

This video has opened my eyes to life in general. Dr. Randy Pausch had cancer and he met it head on and wasn't scared of it, embraced it, and enjoyed the time he had left. The main thing that he left in my mind was the whole idea about "brick walls". If we persevere we can accomplish anything, because all they are there for is to see how bad we really want something. Some of the advice that I really enjoyed from him was what he said at the end of the video. That was to never lose childlike wonder, help others, to let brick walls show our dedication, don't bail, when you do the right thing good things will happen, cherish and use feedback, and finally to not complain and work harder. I think that right there sums up Dr. Randy Pausch.

Time Toast Timeline 9B

1st Progress Report PLN

For my PLN I decided to go with symbaloo. I liked how it was set up and it was just really easy to use. I started getting into what I wanted to do with my blocks and kind of got carried away with all the stuff you can do with it. It really is a one stop shop to anything you need on the internet and great for a home page!

C4T post

I followed Heidi Siwak and she talked about how we as teachers can make learning easier for every student. What she talks about is that most students are very reluctant to raise their hand and tell the teacher that they are not learning anything, but she makes a point that if we are on a personal level then it makes it easier for them to tell the us teachers. In the post she also talks about how she had a group of students earlier in their academic career, and had them again later. She says that its easier for them to talk to her because they fell comfortable with her that she will not get mad at what they have to say.

Blog Post 6

The Networked Student
In this first assignment it talks about the 21st century student. Basically, what Wendy Drexler is trying to explain in the video is that in this day and age student must be networked and not completely rely on professors and teachers to do that for them. In the video there is a student who had a teacher that basically relied on technology to get the teaching done because he didn't have a book and he always did social networking because that is how she wanted it done. He also had something called iTunesU, and what this does is it gives you music, but it also gives you access to tons of different material scholastically.
In this they ask, Why do we need teachers if we have all of this technology? The reply to that is fairly simple, the teacher is the one who guides the student to learn. The teacher helps the student be ready for the world without doing everything for them, by just preparing them the best way they can.
I agree with all of this for the most part. I believe technology is important, but I also feel like face time with your teacher is important as well. To answer the questions in the blog post assignment, I am not entirely sure if I am ready to be a technological teacher like Dr. Strange asked, but I do know that I will work hard to prepare myself to be ready. He also mentioned how she will do this with middle school age students, and I am not sure how I feel about all of that with all the technologically savvy children, but then again it might not be a bad idea?
A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
The first thing I have to say about this is that I was completely in awe that a 7th grader was already doing all of this different stuff on the computer. It completely blew my mind, because when I was growing up that was not the case to have my own home page of material and have a paperless classroom. To compare her learning style to mine I would have to say that they are completely different because even today being in college I still rely heavily on taking my own notes and I just do not see how you can rely on just a computer, but if you can then more power to you.

C4K summary post

My summary posts were done on a couple of students. The first was Morgan who was really excited about going to camp, and the other was Raven who had just finished reading the book Charlotte's Web and compared the movie directly to the book.

Podcast Project 8

Time Toast Timeline

Blog Post 5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff Please?
In this opening assignment Dr. Mcleod explains all of the stuff that parents need to be afraid of in today's society. He talks about to not let your kids basically have any technology and to see who will come out better (your kids who have no technology, or his that do have it). He is really sarcastic about technology in the beginning, but takes an unexpected turn and changes the program.
The way I understood Dr. Mcleod's passage was extremely sarcastic in the beginning. I was completely in shock someone was that against technology, and then it took an unexpected turn by him saying that he was going to let his kids do all of those things and to see whose kids would come out ahead in the end.
The iSchool Initiative
The second assignment was the iSchool initiative. This was done by Travis Allen from Georgia and he is wanting to start this life changing initiative. He basically has a powerpoint of the iSchool and shows how we can use the iphone to our advantage in the classroom. We can use it from anything from scientific calculators to books, and it is just a tremendous piece of technology.
I think the iSchool initiative is a great idea because as a college student, it could be a lot cheaper to have this one thing instead of books and all of the other school supplies a student needs. I mean you have to have everything, and it definitely takes a toll on your wallet. I think its a great idea, but the application for the iSchool is $150 but how much would the service cost for your phone? and the phone itself? I do not know because I do not have the iphone so my question is would it really be cheaper?
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
In this assignment Whitacre sets up a choir from people all across the country and by using webcams they are able to make an amazing performance by never seeing each other and practicing, just by getting together online. This is an amazing tool the internet can be used for, and it is just amazing the technology that we have today.
All I can say about this is wow. That is just amazing they were able to sound like that without ever meeting one single time. It is even more impressive that it was done totally online!
Teaching in the 21st Century
This is a video that brings to light what it means to teach in the 21st century. It asks a lot of questions on how we can use technology to help teach our students. Basically, we should use technology to our advantage.
I feel that Roberts is on the right track and that we should use technology to our advantage. I mean as educators and inspiring educators it is a win win for us. The reason I say this is because as classroom teachers we have to be lifetime learners as well as teachers. So, why not use this to our advantage? Another important thing to remember is that Roberts shows us how to teach our students to use the internet. It is the perfect set up.

My Sentence Video

Blog Post 4

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale
In this first video by Joe Dale it explains how podcasting can be beneficial in the classroom. The one thing that it points out is it not only can help the students, but also the teachers as well. By creating a podcast students who miss school with being sick or any other reason will now have no excuse to do poorly on tests or homework assignments. Another benefit to podcasting is that teachers will not have to figure out make-up work for their students because of the podcasts the student can watch the instructions anytime, anywhere.
The first thing I want to say about this video is that I never thought that I would agree that technology would play such an important role in education. I had a lot of "old school" teachers that never used technology in their classrooms and they were very effective. Now, I cant help but to think what if they used all of this technology? How different would my education be? This is a question that sticks in the back of my mind. I also never thought I would say this, but after seeing this video I do not know how I cannot use this technology in my classroom.
Langwithces
On this blog its a teacher who creates podcast through using first grade students. She does this for these students to learn their assignments and to learn how to create podcasts, and I know I have said this but they are in the first grade! She basically uses this as a learning activity for her students and the students parents as well. One thing I do like about this is that in the podcasts she uses the students to read the parts of the assignment, and what she says is that they really get into doing the project and want to do it right.
The main thing that really stuck out to me was that she actually uses the students to complete the projects. I do believe that we as teachers could use this to our advantage. We can get the students involved and I believe that would peak their interest to learn. I liked the fact that was the way she taught and she used all of the technology to her advantage and not let it go to waste.
The Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
On this blog Judy explains what a podcast is and why podcasts are effective. She explains a podcast is a "radio-style" talkshow that can also include music. She also goes on to say that podcasts convey information online. She also includes a list of reasons on why podcasts are effective. Some of the various reasons include that they are accessible 24/7, the parents can download the students work, its a cool way to learn, students can make up their classes, ect. So overall she explains on why we as teachers should use podcasts.
I thought this was a very helpful blog because it helps push inspiring teachers like myself who thought that we do not need technology in the classroom. These reasons just help push me to the side of technology. I mean it is such an effective tool, so why should'nt we take advantage of it as teachers. We are the ones who will be teaching the future leaders of our country and world for that matter.

My Google Presentation

Blog Post #3

The first assignment was to read Paige Ellis' blog post assignment and watch some peer editing videos. Paige clearly explained on how to do give a quality review without hurting someone's feelings. Added to this was two videos, and they pretty much spell out to the viewer on how to give a quality peer review. They show how to do it by being nice, but also being truthful at the same time.
Paige Ellis' blog assignment was extremely beneficial to me because she showed an example of a conversation she had with Dr. Strange of how she went about giving her peer reviews in a nice, respectable way. The videos and powerpoint helped some with the peer review, and the main thing that I liked about it was that it showed how to help without being a "jerk".
The next assignment was "It's not about the Technology" by Kelly Hines. In this she explains that its not just about all of the technology in the classroom. The way I understood it is that she talks about all of the money that schools spend on the smart boards and how they are no good if teachers do not put them to good use. She also talks about how teachers have to be lifetime learners and they should never stop learning. Another thing she also points out is that teaching is different from learning.
The first thing I would like to say about Kelly Hines "It's not about the Technology" is that I could not agree more with what she had to say. She talks about how we have all these great tools to use in today's society, but that does not make a great teacher. One thing that it certainly does though is it aids a teacher to be that much more influential in a students academic life. Another subject that really reached out to me is how she mentioned that teachers must be lifetime learners, and as a future teacher I think that is very crucial because we cannot be stubborn and not learn the latest things. If we do learn, as educators we can reach out to the younger crowd and turn them on to learning.
The next assignment was Karl Fisch: "Is it okay to be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?". In this award winning post Fisch talks about how it doesn't make any sense for a teacher today to be technologically illiterate. He points out with all of the technology we have in "exponential times" we as teachers would be dumb to not take advantage of what is laid out in front of us. He says that as time goes on we need to make computers more a part of everyones life because in todays society computers are needed in just about every single job.
The first thing that I would like to say about Fisch's post is that I agree with the fact that we as human beings need to be familiar with computers for the job market. When was the last time that you saw a place of business not using a computer? Exactly. We as a human race need computers for many things, to teach, learn, stay organized, ect. It has become a part of everyday life for the very strong majority of people in this country and as educators it only makes sense to use computers to use it to our advantage.
The next thing that was assigned is to view Gary Hayes Social Media Count. I literally was in shock when I opened the link to view this page. I was in shock at all of the the people that were using different types of social websites and things being purchased and downloads. I sat and stared at this page and watched the numbers skyrocket the entire time with no letting up.
It was shocking to me to see all of that, especially the tweets and facebook posts. Then I sat and thought about it and it really did not shock me at all. If you have some friends like mine that posts every two minutes it makes sense that all of those numbers are achievable. I guess what this really made me realize was that the world has really shifted to a more technologically savvy one, and we as humans must keep up.
The last assignment for this blog was "A Vision of Students Today" by Michael Wesch. In this eerie video it never speaks but it shows exactly how students today think. The main thing that stuck out to me was that if a student does everything needed of them then they will spend 26.5 hours a day doing the various tasks, and there is literally not enough hours in the day for all of that. Another thing that it mentions is that students today will probably have a job that doesn't even exist yet.
In this video Wesch does a good job of reeling the viewer in to really pay attention to the point he is trying to get across. The main thing that popped out at me is that there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that needs to be done, and as a student really stresses me out because that means I have to manage my time even better. That is a crucial part of being a student is time management. It also shows how technology is very important to everyday life and the fact that we need it in our everyday life.

C4T project

I was assigned to Frank Noschese and he has a blog about action-reaction teaching and how we as teachers can improve our teaching habits through physics. In the first post I commented on he talks about action and reaction of students and why they are sometimes afraid to answer certain questions that they are unsure of the answer. What makes them this way?
I replied, "I believe that a lot of students freeze up on answering questions for Physics because they are scared of rejection. It’s kind of like a guy asking a girl out on a date when he isn’t sure she will say yes. One way that we could show students that its okay just to go with their gut instinct is by making them feel comfortable in the classroom. I know from personal experience that a lot of students scared not only of rejection, but also afraid of being thought of as “dumb”. I know that students do not like to be made fun of and they might be afraid to answer because of getting the answer wrong and being made fun of. Something teachers can do is just to reinforce the fact that its okay to get then answer wrong, but you just got to keep trying and never give up."
The second post was by Daniel Taylor, and he talks about how he goes on about physics experiments and how he just doesn't involve his local students, but also students across the globe. He also mentions that he can better get a hold of the results by this because different places have better equipment than others and it helps to see the differences.
I replied, "I found this blog from Daniel Taylor very interesting because of how he has a passion to help his students learn about physics. I thought the blood spatter project was thoroughly interesting because I am a fan of the show “Dexter” and in that he is a blood spatter expert, and just the fact that your doing projects with students on that was a really awesome idea. I also like the fact that he gets involved with not only his local students but students across the country as well as the world. It is a great idea because he can take all the different approaches and combine it into one to get the most data available just like he said."

Blog Post 2

Did You Know? 3.0
This is a very eye opening video that points out how far technology has come in the existence of man. It also sets out to predict how far technology will go in our lifetime. Another thing that it shows is that since technology as well as the world is constantly changing, we as a human race struggle to keep up.
Like I said before Did You Know? 3.0 is a very eye opening video. I was shocked at how much we as a human race depend on technology, but then I started thinking about it and I am not really shocked at all. I know for one I use google every single day to look up something that I do not know and obviously other people do as well. I also couldn't believe about the super computer that would be capable of being smarter than the human brain, that really blew my mind.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
Mr. Winkle Wakes is a story about a character named Mr. Winkles who has a 100 year slumber and awakens to find that the world is completely different from how it used to be. He went everywhere to try to find comfort away from all the machines that could do so much, so he went to a local school after being at a business building and a hospital. Once arriving at the school he immediately felt at home, because all of the rows were in order and all of the students would listen to the lecture and write down their notes instead of using the machines.
I think Mr. Winkle wakes is a fairly accurate video. A lot of times the machines he referred to are important in our daily lives. If you are a businessman you might have to use those "machines" for your job. Another thing I wanted to point out is, the classroom is changing as well. More and more teachers are becoming computer literate and starting to use technology in the classroom, and I know by the time that I become one I will have to be doing the same.

The Importance of Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes plenty of interesting points throughout the entire video. He begins with telling jokes about how he moved from England to get the audience interested, because he is a funny guy. Then he goes on to talk about the public school system and how it kills creativity, or how he put it educates us out of creativity. He makes a point how the public school system molds us to be like college professors because they only teaches reading, writing, math, ect. He also says that people that are creative need music, art, and dance classes because they are important to those people, and everyone for that matter. The reason for this is he explains that everyone is creative at one point in their life, they just get educated out of it by the time they are an adult.
I thought this video was very interesting, mainly because I have never thought about education in the way that he explained it. I never thought about music, art, and dance being important in school. Then I got to thinking, what if these subjects were taught along with all of the other "core" classes? Would I still be a history major? Well, I guess I will never know, but it definitely got me thinking about what might have been.

Cecilia Gault interviews Sir Ken Robinson
In this video Cecilia Gault, a student from Finland performing arts school interviews Sir Ken Robinson on how creativity can be important in a child's life. She asks him the three myths of technology and he explains in one of the myths that everyone is born creative, it is just the fact that the person has to decide to use the creativeness.
I believe through this video that the schools in the U.S. need to do more to make sure that we have a more balanced approach to school with putting the arts in our curriculum just as Sir Ken Robinson said. I also think its important to take advantage of all of the technology made available to us.

Harness Your Students Digital Thoughts
In this video Vicki Davis teaches students how to harness their digital thoughts by teaching them how to do different things on the internet. She teaches them how to connect to social networks, such as digiteen so they can be made available across the world. Another thing she uses is digisimms.
Vicki Davis really said something that meant something to me, because I thought it was something important before I became a teacher. She said that you do not have to know every subject before you teach it. That really "hit home" to me because I felt like a teacher does need to know that until now. I know I have had some bad teachers that did not know what they were talking about and I did not want to become them, but she explains that it is okay to learn from your students.

Blog Post 1

    Hey, my name is Tyler Davis. I am 22 years old and a senior here at South Alabama. I am a secondary education major in Social Science with a concentration in History. I decided to come to the University of South Alabama because my older brother graduated with a nursing degree and he loved it so I decided to pursue my academic career here. I plan on coaching when I get out of school even though I am actually a football coach at a local high school now.
    I am from a small town called Hurley in Mississippi. I graduated from East Central high school in the year 2007 and went to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College directly following high school. Whenever I first started school I was an exercise science major only to change that after my third year of school, so that explains why it has taken me so long to get a 4-year degree.


   Randy Pausch on Time Management
I believe that Randy Pausch's video on time management is a very useful video on how to manage your time successfully and efficiently. I do in fact know that I am a procrastinator myself and I have already knew the different hints he used in the video to help myself. The biggest thing that I will have to do is make sure that I can be successful in this class.

I'm awesome

This is my awesome practice post.